A Different Kettle of Onions
by Bubble Wrapped Kitty
Summary: An A-Z collection of oneshots and drabbles based off the Syfy mini-series, "Alice." Chapter #26: In which Alice tries to explain horoscopes to Hatter.
1. Age

AN: So this is just going to be a little collection of drabbles based off the "Alice" mini-series. It'll be updated sporadically as I write them, and so far they all seem to consist of Hatter-centric fluff and nonsense, but I'm trying to branch out and write other characters. For the moment I'm working off an A-Z list of prompts, but please feel free to suggest prompts for me work from. I'm always looking for fresh ideas :)

* * *

**Age** - In which Alice and Hatter discuss the difference in their ages.

* * *

_"Isn't he a little old for you?"_

Her mother's words were still hovering at the back of her mind hours later, as Alice sat at the dining table and watched Hatter moving around the kitchen of his flat with the grace of a dancer. (He had promised her the greatest dinner of her life, and by the smells she reckoned he might be right.) Still as she watched him she couldn't help but notice the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and in his brow when he concentrated.

The truth was, she hadn't had a good answer to give her mother. The birth certificate Jack had procured for him had him ticked at twenty-nine years old, but somehow she felt that was just a number. It was hard to pin down something like age when it came to Hatter. Most of the time he was as lively and youthful as a child, but then there were moments when she saw more in his eyes, years and wisdom and memories beyond what she thought he should have.

"Jus' ask your question, love," Hatter chimed suddenly from the stove, shooting her a quick glance over his shoulder. At her confused look he grinned. "I can actually _taste_ your Curiosity in the air."

Well there was nothing for it now. "How old are you, really?"

Hatter went back to stirring the sauce with a pensive look. "In Oyster years or Wonde'land?"

Alice paused thoughtfully. "There's a difference?"

"Course," he answered. "Time moves different, don' it? A day there's an hour here, or somm'it like that. Depends on the weather too, and then there's the cats, o' course. Neva' was good at doin' the math."

Alice opened her mouth to ask just what on earth cats had to do with the passage of time, but then changed her mind. It was Wonderland, so odds were the answer wouldn't make sense anyhow. So she settled for answering his first question. "Both, I guess."

"Twen'y-nine, in Oyster," he said. He paused to take the sauce off hot stove and then turned around to face her, propping his back against the countertop. "Or as close as can get to it, anywhich, give or take a thunderstorm or two. An' in Wonderland, I'll be - " He counted off on his fingers, mouthing numbers as he did the math in his head, "Seven'y-four just about."

"Seventy-four!" Alice gasped in shock.

Hatter shrugged. "Yeah, I look older 'an I am," he said off-handedly. He seemed to take in the look of surprise on Alice's face and grinned. "Told ya, time's different there. An' we can control 'ow we age, if we wanna. I kept meself young, helped the business to have a pretty face in charge."

Alice laughed and shook her head. "My mom was right," she said. Hatter lifted an inquisitive eyebrow. "You are a little old for me."

"Oi, now tha's not fair," Hatter said, sticking his lower lip out slightly the way he did when he was upset. "If I'd'a known what I was keeping meself young for, I'd 'ave stopped aging at fifty. Then we'd be right close to the same."

Standing up, Alice crossed to him and brushed a thumb along the laugh lines around his dark eyes. "That's the most romantic thing someone's ever said that I didn't understand," she teased.

Despite the joke in her tone, Hatter beamed at the compliment. "Aye, well you set you'self down," he said, gesturing at the table. "This _ol' man'_s got 'imself a dinner to serve."


	2. Bed

**Bed**

* * *

The first thing Hatter did upon moving into his flat was buy himself a bed.

For the first few days in the Oysterworld - when he was still unsure how things would turn out with Alice - he had stayed in Jack Heart's old flat. He hated the place. He hated the red and black structured furniture and the mod paintings and rugs. But most especially he hated the bed; that big, luxurious, cloud of a mattress. Hatter slept on the sofa, because he'd be damned if he was going to sleep in the same bed as a man he still saw as a rival.

He tried not to wonder if Alice had ever slept with him in that bed.

So after a week in the Oysterworld, he had found himself a nice little flat not far from the dojo where Alice taught her judo classes. He had sold off all of Jack Heart's things - with great pleasure - and the very first thing he bought for his new place was a bed. He found the bed frame at a thrift shop; it had a carved wooden headboard that was a little scratched and a springbox that creaked slightly on the left side. He put a nice, new fancy mattress on it that had cost him quite a lot of the paper money he had, but it was worth it when he slept on it the first time.

It was considerably nicer than sleeping on the sofa. By the cards, it was considerably nicer than his bed back in Wonderland.

The thing that really sold him on the bed though was Alice's reaction. When she came round after a judo class to see his new flat - which he'd furnished from thrift stores and garage sales and a strange market named fleas, although he'd had no idea why - she had smiled. "It's so - _you_," she said, running her hand along the clear plastic dining table set. In the bedroom she had collapsed heavily on the bed and let out a contented sigh.

Hatter decided he quite liked the sight of Alice on his bed.

The first night she stayed at his flat - exactly forty-one days after his arrival in her world, not that he was counting - she had all but passed out on his sofa while watching an old black-and-white film on the telly. Hatter had carried her into the bedroom and tucked her in before slipping in on the other side. It was an eventful night; Alice tossed like a Mome Rath wrestling a wheel of cheese, stole all of the covers, and shoved the pillows off the bed in her sleep. But when she finally settled in the early hours of the morning, her head lying on his chest and her legs tangled in his, Hatter decided it was all worth it.

He'd take the small amount of sleep he got if it meant he got to wake up to an Alice in his bed every morning.


	3. Chocolate

AN: This one is the first one to not take place post-series. This actually takes place near the end of the series, after Alice has gone home but before Hatter follows her.

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**Chocolate**

Hatter picked dismally at the plate in front of him. He had taken a few bites but the sweets tasted like ash on his tongue, dry and flavourless. Even the chocolates, special ones imported from the other side of the Looking Glass, did nothing to make him feel better. Actually, if anything, they were making it worse. Because they came from the other side of the Looking Glass, just like _she_ did.

Oh cracked kettles, there he went again. Thinking of her.

Shaking his head, Hatter split one of the little cream cakes in half and placed it in his mouth. The sugary confection felt wrong, the sweetness burning instead of soothing, but he forced himself to chew and swallow. There was nothing else for it at this point. She was gone. Time to move on.

He had been fiddling with a piece of chocolate and he frowned when he realised it had melted slightly in his hands, staining his fingertips brown. Hatter licked away the chocolate and grimaced. His hands smelled like the violet coat he'd carried back to his safehouse with him, the one currently draped over the chair opposite him. They smelled like her.

This wasn't working.

_"I know a thing or two about liking people. And after much chocolate and cream cake, like turns into 'What was his name again?'"_

Hatter was beginning to wonder if there was enough chocolate and cream cake in all of Wonderland to make him forget Alice. Or if he even really wanted to.

With a heavy sigh, Hatter popped the half-melted bit of chocolate into his mouth. Only one way to find out.


	4. Dancing

**Dancing**

* * *

"Are you insane?" Alice called out from beneath the shelter of the awning. A sudden summer storm had swept through the city and it was pouring buckets. Every person with a lick of sense had scampered for shelter, but there was a single person standing in the middle of the empty park across the road, his arms outstretched and head tipped back so far his hat was in danger of falling off.

Hatter glanced up at her, a childish grin spreading across his face. Taking off his hat, he bowed with an extravagant flourish. "Mad as a Hatter," he responded cheekily. "Care to join me?"

"Not particularly," Alice answered. She was already half-drenched from the few seconds it had taken her to seek shelter under the awning of the public toilets. Meanwhile Hatter looked like he'd just climbed out of a lake.

Putting his hat back in place, Hatter walked up to her and held out his hand. "Have I eve' led you wrong 'fore?" he asked seriously.

Alice considered his perfectly straight expression, his outstretched hand, and then the puddles forming on the pavement. "Never," she answered and placed her hand in his. Beaming, Hatter tugged her out into the storm with him. Alice gasped at the shock of the warm rain running down her skin as he dragged her out into the slick grass.

Hatter suddenly spun on her and placed his free hand on her waist. At a pointed look, Alice set her other hand on his shoulder. And then, with a silly smile on his face, Hatter swept her into a complex waltz in the middle of the park. She could barely keep up with his steps as he moved through a dance she had never done before, and she was breathless and laughing as he led her along for the ride.

It was some time later, when they were both panting for breath and Alice had started shivering, that he steered her back into the shelter of the toilets. He shook off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders even though it was just as soaked as she was. "Thank you," he said abruptly.

"For what?" Alice asked curiously, wringing water from her ponytail.

Leaning against the wall, he fixed her with one of his deep, meaningful stares. "For trustin' me."

Alice's heart swelled at the intensity behind the words and she quickly closed the space between them. "Always and completely," she said firmly. And then she stood on her toes and kissed him senseless.


	5. Emotion

AN: This is one of my favourite ones I've written so far. It's basically my explanation for Hatter's erratic mood swings, especially in that awkward farewell scene.

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**Emotion**

* * *

Hatter had always prided himself on being quite capable of keeping his head around Oyster emotions, thank you very much. Teas had never really held all that much of a draw for him. Despite the hardships of his life, he enjoyed himself and he didn't need to seek out artificial replacements. After decades of owning the tea shoppe, he'd built up quite an immunity to them.

Of course the one fact he'd never quite considered was that he only ever dealt with distilled emotions. Ones that had already been broken down and processed for drinking. So when he told Ratty to bring the Oyster girl he'd found into the office, he hadn't considered that things were different when straight from the source.

_"Would you like a cuppa tea?"_

It hit him all at once when she got close, the emotions floating through the air around her and assailing his senses. Nerves, Fear, Anxiety, Annoyance. He was grateful that he had his back to her so she didn't see the tremor that rolled through him. Blimey, her emotions were strong. He managed to school himself into a neutral expression, but he couldn't stop the bit of anxiousness that seeped out in his voice when he spoke.

_"A friend - I hope."_

The next few days were a rollercoaster as her emotions influenced his own in subtle ways. He fed off of her without meaning to, breathing in the emotions she cast out and reflecting them back to her. When she was angry, his voice raised. When she was sad, he felt the ache in his chest. And when she was happy, his heart soared.

It was an inconvenience, really.

Yet the one time when he most wanted to understand her emotions, he found he couldn't. Standing in the Looking Glass room, surrounded by Oysters on every side, his head was spinning. Anger, Sadness, Fear, Eagerness, Passion, Nervousness, Frustration, Hope. There were so many of them and he couldn't pick hers apart from the crowd. The conversation they held - their goodbye - was schizophrenic at best as the waves of emotions tugged him in every direction.

It was only when she left, when she had vanished through the Looking Glass and beyond his reach, and that particular emotion disappeared with her, that he realised what her most prominent feeling was. It was the same one currently rattling around in his own chest, the one that was entirely his own.

_Loss. _


	6. Future

**Future**

Alice had never been the sort of girl to fantasise about the future. She wasn't the little girl who used her Barbies and clip-outs from magazines to plan out her perfect wedding. She didn't cobble together her favourite features from celebrities to come up with a blueprint for her ideal husband. She didn't think about the house with the little picket fence or the children she might one day have.

Alice was the sort of girl who was fixated on the past. She dreamt every night of the people she loved leaving her again. She spent all her time thinking about the man who had disappeared from her life one day like a ghost, or scouring the web for some sign of that missing piece of her past. She thought of Dinah the cat, and a yellow dress with the black shoes that hurt her feet, and grapefruit and wheat germ, and sailing on Ray's boat. She categorised every detail from her childhood and kept it filed away for easy access.

Alice was a girl who lived in the present. Everything that she did was purely for the now. She took general classes at the community college because she didn't want to think about tying herself into a proper career. She taught judo lessons at the dojo because that was what made her happy. It was all about focusing on the very second, of seeing the hints in your sparring partner's movements and reacting. Act and react. No thinking, no planning, just _doing_.

Alice was all about the past and the present, but never the future.

At least not until one David Lee Hatter turned up in her living room with a tentative smile and open arms.

It started small at first. She wondered where they would go for dinner the next day and what crazy plans he would come up with for the weekend. Then it was considering if she should invite him to Thanksgiving and what she should get him for Christmas. Slowly the little things grew.

She started imagining them living together; watching films on the sofa of their shared flat, cooking dinner in their cramped kitchen, sleeping in the same bed every night and waking up to him in the morning.

As time passed and things continued to be good, her mind drifted further. To gold rings and white dresses and Hatter in a loose tie and his favourite black hat - because what was a Hatter without his hat? She mused on honeymoon locations, debated between beautiful, exotic beaches or exciting cultural hubs.

One day, at a friend's baby shower, she found herself thinking of little pink bundles with dark eyes and hair that stuck up in every direction. She imagined dance recitals and football matches and sleepovers. Birthday parties and the first day of school and daddy-daughter tea parties. She would watch Hatter's child-like face light up and dream of him chasing little brown-haired children around a little backyard behind a little yellow house.

Alice looked across the table at Hatter, who was currently enjoying a slice of his favourite Oyster food - pizza. He caught her staring and lifted an eyebrow, giving her a playful look. Alice simply smiled in response and took his free hand.

With Hatter, the future suddenly didn't seem so bad.


	7. Ground

**Ground**

His Alice is a creature of the ground. She likes level and stable and sturdy. She likes things that stay where they're supposed to and not having room to fall. She likes being close to the earth.

Hatter, however, is in love with the sky.

For the most part he's made a good life for himself in the Oysterworld; he has a place of his own, a business to manage, and most importantly he has Alice. There are only a few things about Wonderland that he genuinely misses. He misses the smell of the earth - so much more electric than Alice's world - and he misses the comforting hum of the stars in the night. He misses the whispers of the trees and the dance of the flowers. He even misses Dormie, and it surprises him sometimes how badly he misses Charlie as well.

The one thing he misses most of all though is the heights. After a lifetime in Wonderland, he got used to being up in the sky. He grew up darting along the treacherous pathways around the towering buildings, climbing ladders and leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Life was a constant balancing act, walking along the narrow ridges with the gray world opened up below him. He always felt so free, up in the open air where he could look down on all of Wonderland and feel separate from it all.

Alice's world is smaller. There are tall buildings, for sure, but even their "skyscrapers" are nothing more than baby buildings in comparison to his home. The sky is such a distant thing, forever out of reach. Alice prefers it that way, but not Hatter. He longs for the great heights of his youth.

It's a welcome relief when he and Alice let out their first flat together, deciding his own cramped studio was too small for the both of them. They rent a flat on the fifth floor of a towering apartment complex not far from the neighbourhood where Alice teaches her judo classes and a short bus ride from Hatter's tea shoppe. Although the place is nice, and he loves having Alice around all of the time, there is one aspect of the flat he loves most.

Hatter stands on the concrete lip of the roof, staring out across the vast jungle of steel and stone that is southern Queens. There's a cool breeze rushing up between the buildings and ruffling his hair. He tilts his head back, balanced on the balls of his feet, and stares up at the stars. From up here they almost feel as close as at home, even if they are too quiet.

"Hatter." Alice's startled voice makes him glance over his shoulder and he sees a look of terror on her face. "What're you doing?"

"Just lookin'," he says with a shrug. He leans forward slightly, looking down the face of the building to the distant street below where the cars are no bigger than rocking-horse-flies. "The view's nice from up here."

A sudden gust of wind sweeps up and Hatter's arms fly out to his sides as it knocks his balance off. Just as he starts to pitch forward, a pair of hands fist in the back of his jacket and yank him back onto the roof. He and Alice tumble in a heap on the gravel, hearts hammering.

"Jesus, Hatter," Alice curses and he can see that she's gone white as a sheet. He's a bit shaky himself, and he quickly draws her into his arms.

"Your wind's not so friendly here," he says, trying to lighten the mood.

Alice laughs stiffly and wraps herself tighter around him. "Just be careful, please," she says.

Hatter feels a new swell in his chest, a high much like the feeling of being in the air only warmer and less dangerous. Because even after that, even after he had nearly fallen, she isn't telling him not to do it again. She isn't denying him the one thing that reminds him of home. Somehow, without being told, she understands.

"I promise," he says sincerely and presses a quick kiss to the top of her head. She is still shaking and he stands, lifting her to her feet along with him. "C'mon, love, back to bed."

Hatter might belong to the sky but Alice keeps him grounded, and maybe that's exactly why he needs her so much.


	8. Holiday

AN: SHameless, unabashed fluff. Two close together since I forgot to post one Monday. Sorry, I was basically in a coma all day after working a double shift at work. :P

Thanks to NotMarge and AverageEverydaySanePsycho for reviewing every single chapter so far. And thanks to the two people (sorry, can't remember your names off the top of my head) who've offered prompt ideas. I'll get to them as soon as I finish this alphabet thing I'm doing.

* * *

**Holidays**

The smell of cooking drew Alice from the warm cocoon of her bed and out into the kitchen. She found Hatter standing at the stove, already dressed for the day and hard at work on a large breakfast. There were plates of pastries, meats, and eggs set out on the table and a still-steaming cup of tea sat at his elbow.

Hatter glanced over his shoulder at the sound of her shuffled footsteps and he grinned brightly. "Happy Frabjous Day!" he said cheerfully, gesturing her toward a vacant seat at the already loaded table.

"Happy what?" Alice asked, dropping down into the chair and looking around at the extravagant breakfast in awe. How on earth had he had time to make all of this? Had he been up all night? But then how was it all still warm?

"Frabjous Day," Hatter said and then frowned at her. "Don't you celebrate - ?" He paused and shook his head, talking over himself. "No, o' course you wouldn't."

"What's Frabjous Day?" Alice asked curiously.

Hatter took a sip from his cup of tea and then set it at the other empty spot on the table. "It's the day the first Alice-of-Legend took down the Queen of Hearts," he explained over his shoulder as he went back to frosting the tray of cream cakes he had sitting on the countertop. "Biggest holiday in Wonderland, it is."

"And you celebrate by making the world's most enormous breakfast?" Alice asked, looking around at all of the succulent-smelling food. There was no way they would be able to eat all of it, not even with the way Hatter could put away a meal.

"It's a day of feastin'," Hatter said, smiling indulgently. "Every three-an'-a-half years we have feasts and dance the Croxcrip and paint our doorframes in bright colours." His hand hesitated and she saw the laugh lines around his eyes fade as his smile faltered. "Haven' celebrated in a long time. Queen o' Hearts outlawed it, she did. Guess I wen' a bit o'erboard."

Alice stood and walked around the table to wrap her arms around him from behind. "It sounds fantastic," she said. "Are we really going to paint the doorframe?"

Hatter twisted in her grip so they were facing each other. "On'y if you wan'," he said, shooting a half-glance at the front door to their flat. "Thought we might go down to that hard-store - " ("Hardware," Alice supplied but he continued like he hadn't heard her) "-And pick a colour togetha'."

"Red would look nice," she said, looking at the door thoughtfully. "Or maybe purple. And what's a croxcrip?"

"Wonde'land dance," he said. "Bit like that - what's that one you taught me? Chatterbug?"

"Jitterbug," Alice corrected with a laugh, remembering the entertaining evening when Hatter had dragged her into a country line dancing bar they had passed walking home from the pizzeria.

Hatter chuckled at the silly name. "Aye. Usually done by five couples, but we'll make due just us, yeah?" He lifted one of the cream cakes and held it up to her lips. Alice bit off half and Hatter popped the other side into his mouth. When they had both finished he leaned in and kissed her until her toes curled, and it tasted of sweets and sugar and his morning darjeeling tea and that strange spicy flavour that was entirely his own.

Alice smiled at her mad Hatter. "Happy Frabjous Day."


	9. Instrument

AN: This one might seem a little off the wall, but I did a lot of pondering and it just seemed like the best fit for him.

* * *

**Instrument**

Alice vaguely wondered if there would _ever_ be a day when the things Hatter did didn't surprise her anymore.

They had been strolling through a row of secondhand shops in lower Manhattan, one of Hatter's favourite pastimes. He had a certain proclivity for things that had been used and abandoned. He said that they told him stories, whispered them to him in the background when he was only half-listening. Alice had no idea if he meant that literally, but she wouldn't have been too shocked if he did.

She also couldn't deny, he had a certain talent for finding spectacular treasures amid all of the other rubbish. It must've come from years of collecting things that had appeared through the Looking Glass - something he told her happened more often than she would believe - but he was an expert at picking out things that still had some life in them. Most of his entire flat had come from secondhand shops and flea markets - he had a firm hatred of IKEA and it's "soulless" box furniture - and she couldn't deny it was her favourite place to be. A perfect blend of Wonderland and her world, just like he'd become.

So when Hatter made a loud noise of excitement, Alice looked up from the shelf of battered books she'd been browsing expecting him to be clutching some new hat or clock with lime green hands. Instead she found him tracing his fingers along an ancient violin with something close to reverence. "I've not seen one of these in ages," he mused, a slow smile stealing over his face. He plucked one of the strings and at the slightly-off note that came from it his eyes lit up.

"They're pretty common here," Alice said with a shrug.

"Me mum had one," Hatter admitted, fiddling with the pegs and then testing the strings again. Alice's attention was immediately captured; Hatter so rarely talked about his past. "It was grandad's originally, I think."

Then, to her complete shock, he lifted the violin to his chin and drew the bow across the strings, producing a lightning-fast scale. Alice smiled indulgently even as she glanced around to see if anyone was watching them - every person in the shop had turned to them at the noise. When she looked back at Hatter he flashed her a devilish grin and then he was off.

The bow rocketed back and forth across the strings at a speed she didn't know was possible as his nimble fingers jumped up and down on the neck. The song was fast and wild, without any discernible rhythm to it. Although Hatter's face was screwed up in concentration, there was a light behind his eyes that she was becoming addicted to. It was the light that a new book brought, or discovering a new tea he'd never tried. It was the light that told her he was fascinated by her world, not bored by it.

After a minute the hectic song slowed into a smooth, haunting ballad. The notes dragged out long and slow, occasionally flat or sharp but somehow it just seemed to add to the music. It made something in her heart ache; it felt like the sadness of losing her father all over again, of stepping back through a Looking Glass alone. His eyes were pressed shut and she wondered how he even knew what he was playing or if he was just pressing notes at random.

The song ended with a single, drawn out note that seemed to vibrate away in the air around them. As Hatter lowered the violin there was a sudden explosion of applause from all around them. Hatter's eyes snapped open in surprise and he grinned at the attention, tossing out a quick, flourished bow in response.

"Hatter, that was amazing," Alice said, her heart still hammering with the emotions that the music had brought up in her. "I didn't know you could play."

"Taught meself," he said and shrugged, his ears going a bit pink. He fitted the violin and bow back into their case as delicately as if he was handling glass. "Mum liked to listen, it calmed her down when she was goin' a bit mad. Lost mine after mum died and I ne'er could find me another one."

Then he looked to the left and saw a rack of hats, and the violin was completely forgotten as his face lit up with childlike eagerness again. Although he didn't mention the violin again, Alice couldn't get the incident out of her head that night. She could tell he was trying to play it off but something about that violin had meant more to him.

So the next morning while Hatter was working at the tea shoppe, Alice went back to the secondhand store and bought the violin. And when she presented it to him that night, he had simply grinned and then kissed her until she saw stars. Later, he pulled out the violin and played a sweet, steady lullaby that he said made him think of her.

As Alice sat on the sofa watching him play, she knew that she would never stop being amazed by the man in front of her. It was part of why she loved him.


	10. Journal

AN: Be warned, this one made me cry.

* * *

**Journal**

All of his life, Hatter had been rather meticulous about keeping records. He had picked up the skill at an early age; had no choice really. When his mum's mind had started slipping, someone had to make sure that they kept up on all their finances and paid all their taxes to the queen. By the time he was eight, Hatter was running the house as his mother slipped in and out of her fits of madness.

Being an expert at managing a budget and keeping track of everything served him well when he got the job at the tea shoppe. One had to be an expert at keeping perfect records when they wanted to survive playing both sides of the court. He had one set of records that he showed to the queen's men whenever they came around to make sure he was running a clean business, and then he had a second book that was only ever seen by him, where his deductions for Resistance supplies were carefully documented.

It wasn't just money and business that Hatter kept records of, however. After watching his mother's mind deteriorate and the way that the simplest memories started to escape her, Hatter started writing everything down for her. He wrote out every story she had ever told him about her life, her childhood, her mum and da.

Then when he'd finished with her life, he started on his own. He taped in the photograph of the two of them just after he'd been born, drew sketches of the flat they shared and the neighbourhood around them. In the margins between the drawings he wrote out his favourite memories growing up - his little rusted bicycle, the squap birds that used to perch in the windows when his mother made tea, the picnic they'd taken on the edge of the lake before the Suits had started patrolling there all the time. Unbirthdays and tea parties and bedtime tales from secret books.

All of it went into a set of little leather bound notebooks that he nicked off a street vendor on the upper levels, and whenever she came back from the madness he would read them to her to bring her memories back from the fog. It made him feel less helpless; even though he couldn't stop the madness eating away at her mind, he could help her once she'd come back to him.

Then one day she didn't come back.

His entries became less often then, but he couldn't bring himself to stop entirely. It was the one thing that kept him close to his mother, that reminded him that she had existed once. And, he reasoned, perhaps one day the madness would come for him and he'd need those books to remember who he had been before it all.

So he kept writing, adding every important event that occurred into the growing stack of notebooks. There was a gap in his mid-teens, during the years the Queen's scientists had captured and experimented on him - he hadn't become the Sledgehammer by happy chance - but when he was finally set free again after promising to serve the Queen he had immediately taken up a book and written down everything he could remember of those blurred years.

By notebook number fourteen, an Oyster girl in a very wet dress had stumbled into his life and turned his whole world topsy-turvy. When he made the decision to follow her - after a stern talking-to from Charlie, mind - the notebooks were one of the few possessions he had thrown into his trusty carpetbag before jumping through a mirror into another world.

It took him a year, her time, for him to show her the notebooks. He didn't let her read everything - some of them were too private and some were just too dark - but he offered her small glimpses into his world. She took them all willingly and that look of love in her eyes never faded, no matter how bad the story. She accepted what he'd been and who he was now.

And still he kept writing. He wrote about those terrifying first few days in the Oyster world, of the day he'd finally gotten to see Alice again when she'd come home from the hospital, of their glorious reunion. He wrote of their first date, of the time he was hit by a car trying to cross the road, of the first night Alice slept in his arms.

He bought a bookshelf for his bedroom and then kept writing. Of rings and things, of pretty white dresses and bowties, of silly Oyster ceremonies. Of swelling bellies and midnight food runs and a first beautiful scream. Of growth and change and empty nests.

And after decades in the Oyster world with his precious Alice, the madness finally came for him. It started small - slips in memory, talking to himself (well, more so than usual, anywhich), and stumbles. Old age, they called it. Happens to everyone. Then came blackouts and mood swings. Senile, the Oyster doctor called him. Early stages of Alzheimer's.

Hatter knew better.

Now the fits take it out of him. He loses his breath easily and he forgets more. But everytime he comes back, there's his lovely Alice with a cup of tea and one of his battered notebooks. She tucks a blanket over him in his favourite armchair and as he sips the tea she reads. Of a determined orphan and a world of magic; of a pretty Oyster and a ring; of life and love and happy endings.

Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax; of cabbages - and kings -


	11. Kids

AN: Something a little fluffier and funnier to make up for yesterday. Although I'm not sorry in the least. Rather proud, actually. :)

* * *

**Kids**

"Hatter, can we have kids?"

Hatter promptly choked on his cup of tea, spraying little droplets of brown liquid across the clear surface of the tabletop. He struggled to get his breathing back under control as Alice rubbed a soothing hand over his spine. By the time he could breathe properly again he was red in the face. He glanced up at her with watery eyes and managed a thick, "Uh, righ' now?"

The confusion and concern on Alice's face fled as a smile blossomed on her lips. "Oh, God, no," she said hastily, passing him a napkin. Hatter accepted it gratefully and mopped up the spilt tea. "I just meant in general, down the road," she clarified. "If we want to."

"Sure, I reckon," Hatter said with a shrug. "Why?"

"I was just thinking," Alice said evasively. Hatter shot her a pointed look over the rim of his teacup and she sighed. "I mean, you are a lot older. I thought maybe Wonderlanders are too different from humans."

"Oh." Hatter's face fell slightly and he lowered the tea cup back to the table. "Hadn' thought o' that."

Alice began fidgeting with the silver band on her left hand, a nervous tic she'd picked up in the last few months. Hatter reached over and set his hand on hers comfortingly. "You know, me mum always said her mum was an Oyster," he said casually. "Course she was a bit barmy, but that's one o' the things she seemed pretty 'sistent on."

"That would make you quarter Oyster," Alice pointed out in amusement.

Hatter's nose wrinkled slightly. "Reckon that does," he agreed. "See, love, we're not so diff'rent as you thought. We'll be fine." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "What's brought this on? This about your cousin?"

The week previous one of Alice's cousins had come up to visit and she'd brought with her a tiny little cherub-cheeked baby girl and a noisy, energetic little wisp of a toddler. Although Alice wasn't fond of her cousin, she had to admit the children were beautiful. What had really struck her though was Hatter. "You were just so good with them," she said, looking up at him fondly.

"Cute lil snap-dragonflies they was," he said with a grin. "That Brady's got all the workin's to be a proper businessman."

"He's three," Alice pointed out in amusement.

"I could con earlier 'an that," Hatter replied with a shrug.

Somehow Alice didn't doubt that in the least. "It was just, after seeing how good you were with them I thought you must want your own someday," she explained. "And if I can't give you that-"

The smile slid instantly from Hatter's face and he cupped her cheeks in his hands. "Now you listen'a me," he said, firm and gentle all at once. "I love you, Alice. Fought me way in an' outta Casinos, jumped through a mirror to another world to be with you. Even made nice with that prat Jack Heart for you. No little trifle like a baby is gonna make me change me mind, you 'ear?"

Alice found that she couldn't speak around the lump in her throat, so she simply nodded. Hatter used his thumbs to brush away a stray tear that had escaped down her cheek and then leaned in and kissed her.

When they parted some minutes later they were both smiling again. Hatter tucked a bit of hair behind her ear affectionately. "But ya know, if you're tha' worried," he said and a mischievous light had sparked in his dark eyes, "we can always give it a go. Or a couple. _Now_."

Laughing, Alice fell into Hatter's arms and let him cart her off to the bedroom.


	12. Lightning

**Lightning**

It took Alice a while to notice that there was anything wrong. That wasn't much of a surprise, really, he always had been so good at hiding things. Gift of a con man, he'd say.

They were enjoying a lazy evening in as a late summer storm raged outside the windows of their cosy flat. Alice was curled up on one end of the sofa, trying to focus on her textbook - what had compelled her to take this class from the community college she'd never know - over the roaring wind. Hatter was sprawled across the other end, his legs propped on the coffee table and his book of the week - the man went through books like they were going out of style - in his lap. All in all it was a fairly standard night for them.

A bright flash of white light illuminated the windows and from the corner of her eye Alice saw Hatter jump slightly. She couldn't rightly blame him, it had been rather bright, so she went back to her book without thinking about it. Except at the next flash of light he did it again. And the one after. Finally, after fifteen minutes, one of them struck so close that it completely blinded them and Hatter jumped, his face tense and one hand shooting to his side.

"Hatter, you okay?" Alice asked uncertainly.

"Just spooked me, didn' it," he replied casually.

"Why did you grab your side?" she pressed.

Hatter glanced down at his hand, saw where it was, and quickly moved it back to rest on the book in his lap. "Told ya, spooked me."

Alice was about to argue with him again when another flash, closer than the last, lit up their living room. There was a loud electric pop as their circuits blew and the place was plunged into darkness. Hatter yelped and a hand clasped over his side as he leapt back so hard he toppled over the arm of the sofa. "Hatter!" Alice shouted in alarm, launching across the sofa to peer down at him.

Hatter was lying on his back on the floor, one hand closed over his side and the other over his heart. He was white as a sheet and visibly shaking. "Cracked kettles," he hissed under his breath, his eyes pressed shut.

"Hatter, what's wrong?" Alice asked. She slid down off the sofa to sit on the floor next to him. He didn't respond, breathing heavily through his nose. "Hatter, talk to me." She reached out and touched the back of his hand, and Hatter flinched away so fast he slapped her wrist in the process. He sat up and pressed his back against the wall, hands lifted defensively and eyes wild.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Alice said, lifting her hands and scooting back slowly. "Sorry."

Hatter blinked twice and then regret flashed across his features. "Alice, I'm sorry," he said and lowered his fists slightly. "I didn' - " Another flash of light illuminated the room and Hatter's hands were up protecting him again immediately.

"What's wrong, Hatter?" Alice asked again. "The lightning?"

One of Hatter's hands moved to massage a spot on his side. "Electrici'y," he murmured darkly. "Not a fan."

Alice frowned. "You use electricity all the time," she pointed out. Overall, Hatter had assimilated to her world quite well, and there were even things he could work better than she could.

"Not like that," he said and gestured at the window. "It's angry. Burns."

And suddenly Alice realised why he was rubbing his side. Of the rather unhealthy spattering of scars that Hatter had, there were a series of sharp burns that had not yet completely faded into glossy patches. He had always been rather secretive about them - _just a few cuts an' bruises_ - but she could put two and two together.

"Who did it, Hatter?" she asked gently. His eyes flicked to her in surprise. "They burnt you with it, didn't they? That's where the scars come from."

Hatter licked his lips uncertainly. "The Doctors," he admitted. Another burst of lightning came and Hatter recoiled. Meanwhile Alice's heart had plummeted. The Doctors Dee and Dum had done this to him, tortured him with electricity, and it was all because of her. Hatter never would've been there if he hadn't tried to save her. This was her fault.

"Hatter, I'm so sorry," she whispered.

His dark eyes opened and he gave her a look of incredulity. "It's not - " He took in the expression on her face. "Don' be silly, Alice. It's not your fault. Jus' - storms like this, the sound, that crackle - brings back bad memories, tha's all." He squared off his shoulders and crept out of the corner, sitting down beside her. He cupped her cheek lovingly in one hand and tilted her head up to face him. "Jus' stay with me? S'long as you're near, so I know you're okay, it's all worth it."

So they climbed into bed and she let Hatter curl himself up around her. He still flinched at every flash of white, but he didn't run. Alice kissed the scars on his chest and back and held his hand and stroked his hair. And finally, in the early hours of the morning, the storm faded and they both fell asleep in a tangle of limbs with all thought of scars forgotten.


	13. Mother

AN: Sorry I missed yesterday, it's finals week and I've been writing papers like a madwoman. But this is the longest one yet so hopefully that makes up for it a little.

* * *

**Mother**

When he had jumped through the Looking Glass, Hatter had thought he was prepared for anything. He'd talked extensively with Jack Heart - an unpleasant experience in its own right - about the way things worked in the Oyster world. Jack had given him possession of the flat he let as well as anything in it and the combination to a safe in the back of the closet where he'd kept all of his paper money. He's schooled Hatter on what sort of clothing was appropriate in the Oyster world - Hatter had been frustrated to learn that his own style was considered too "_flashy_" - and on basic social protocols.

So with his meagre belongings, Hatter had leapt through the Looking Glass into an entirely new world expecting that he was as prepared as he could be. Especially when he arrived at the Hamilton's flat to have Alice throw herself gladly into his arms, he felt rather good about his chances. It turned out though there was one thing which the ever-so-helpful King of Hearts had neglected to prepare him for.

"_A-hem_."

The wrath of one Carol Lewis-Hamilton.

Hatter and Alice broke apart like frightened teenagers, both of them taking a step back to put a respectable amount of distance between them even though Hatter felt empty with her so far away. All this time, the few days since she had disappeared from his life, and all he wanted was to hold onto her. However the look on Mrs. Hamilton's face told him that was not in his cards at the mo.

She was no longer friendly-grateful-mother Carol. The look she was fixing on him now made him feel she was more likely to behead him than the Queen. Panicked, Hatter murmured a quick, "Sorry, ma'am."

"David, why didn't you tell me you knew Alice?" she asked. He could actually taste her Suspicion on the air, heavy and acidic. Her tone was light but there was a dangerous edge underneath it. It was a tone he'd heard his mother use as well, the one that told him he was walking on very thin tea leaves.

"Didn' know if she'd told you 'bout me, ma'am," he said and that at least was an honest answer. He glanced at Alice and she ever-so-slightly shook her head no. Right, no stories of Wonderland then. It was a good thing he was such a clever con man because he could tell Alice was lost for an explanation. "See, I met Alice las' summer. Me cousin, er, Charlie, see he takes classes at her - place."

"Dojo," Alice supplied quietly.

"Dodo?" Hatter asked in surprise, forgetting for a moment he was supposed to be telling a story.

Alice giggled behind her hand, obviously picking up on the cause of his alarm. "Do-jo," she corrected.

"Oh, right." Hatter cleared his throat and caught Carol giving him a sceptical look. "We jus' call 'em gyms where I'm from," he lied to cover the slip.

"Which is?"

"Yorkshire," Hatter said, suddenly grateful that he had worked out a rough backstory with Jack Heart before coming through. He had no idea where this Yorkshire was on a map, but at least he had a name to give her. Jack had said the place suited his accent, whatever that meant, and the different nationality could be used to explain some things he didn't understand about the Oyster world.

Carol nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. "Quite an affinity for Englishmen, Alice," she noted and a pleasant blush spread across Alice's cheeks. Hatter smiled, taken by the sight, which only made her blush more. The Embarrassment tasted sweet and syrupy as he breathed it in, momentarily covering up the Suspicion still coming off Carol in waves. "So, your cousin," she prompted.

"Oh, right," Hatter said, picking up the abandoned thread of his story again. "Me cousin Charlie was takin' classes from her, and since I was stayin' with 'im, I tagged along. Was taken from the start, I was. Charlie, he introduced us and we - well I wouldn' quite say we hit it off, but I a'least got her to go for tea with me."

"He was charming, if a bit forward," Alice offered with a grin.

Hatter shrugged unconcernedly. "So we got to chattin' and turned out we 'ad a bit in common," he said. "See, me da ran off on me too. Spent a long time lookin' for 'im so I knew a bit what she was goin' through." Hatter saw something soften in Carol's gaze and he tasted a bit of Pity and Sympathy in the air. He fought back a triumphant grin - the best way to spin a story was with a little truth underneath. "Turned her on to a coupa new places to look. Started coming to 'er classes to see her."

"But then he left," Alice chimed in. "Had to go back home. I honestly never thought I'd see him again." The look she gave him then, the sadness and longing, made Hatter's chest ache.

"Kept in touch though," he continued, crushing the brim of his black hat anxiously. "Internet letters and all. Kept helpin' her search for her da."

"He's the one who finally found dad," Alice said, reaching out and taking his hand. "Found out he was - gone."

"Soon's I found out, hopped right on an aeroplane," Hatter said. "Knew how much it'd hurt her, an' I just wanted to be there. Was on me way 'ere when I heard a scream from that warehouse. Thought someone was bein' mugged, I did, so I wen' in and checked. Tha's when I found her." He glanced across at Carol, fixing her with the look he used to soften angry women back home. "I'm sorry I didn' tell ya the truth, ma'am, but it was easier to jus' say I was there workin' than tell you all that."

"That's quite a story," Carol said and she glanced back and forth between them thoughtfully. There was still Scepticism in the air, but it was mingled with Curiosity and Amusement. "Maybe someday you'll tell me the real story."

Alice's jaw dropped and she looked flustered, but Hatter just grinned. Because there was no disapproval in her gaze. "Reckon so, Mrs. Hamilton," he agreed with a nod.

"Call me Carol," she said with a fond smile. "I'll be in the kitchen, I suppose you two have a lot of catching up to do." And with that she touched Alice's arm lightly and then disappeared into the next room.

Hatter beamed proudly at Alice. Unprepared as he was, it seemed he'd still somehow gotten the approval of her mother. Or at least she didn't hate him. That was a good place to start.


	14. Nostalgia

AN: So I just realised that while making my list of ABC prompts, I forgot the letter Q. Now I need a prompt for it. Suggestions? Also thank you to those of you who've already given me prompts, I will be writing and posting those after the ABC ones (since I'd already drafted them all - except Q apparently - before I started posting.)

* * *

**Nostalgia**

Sometimes she missed it. Alice couldn't believe it herself, but part of her actually _missed_ Wonderland.

When she had left Wonderland, she had said she'd had enough of it for a lifetime, and that was true in a way. She had had more than enough of being chased around and shot at and captured. She was tired of wicked queens and evil rabbit-headed assassins and mind-melding doctors. And she had definitely had enough of the whole place's affinity for ridiculous heights.

Even then though, part of her had wanted Hatter to ask her to stay. It wasn't just because she wanted to be with him, although that was certainly part of it. It was because she wanted to stay with him _there_.

She knew, deep down, that she would miss home. She couldn't just leave her mother like that, not after the way she thought her husband had abandoned their family. She couldn't put her mother through that pain and loss again. So she had gone home and shortly after Hatter had followed her. In a way, she'd gotten the best of both worlds.

Still, there were days when she missed Wonderland. Everything there was just so much - more. Her life in her world seemed so ordinary and mundane after the endless adventure of Wonderland. She missed the purpose and the movement and the adrenaline.

Most of all she missed the impossible. Everything at home was so predictable. In Wonderland she, well, she believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. And she didn't just believe them, she _experienced_ them. It was a world of magic and mystery and excitement and new things she never dreamed possible. She thought longingly of all the things she'd never seen or done while there. She listened to Hatter's stories and wished she could walk in his footsteps and do the things he'd done, seen the wonders he'd seen.

She waited for as long as she could, held out as long as possible. Then one day, over lunch, she asked Hatter, "Do you think we could ever go back?"

And he didn't have to ask where, because she knew he'd been thinking it too. She saw it in his eyes sometimes, just how much he missed his home. "Could take a bit of a holiday," he suggested. "Coupa days to see the sights, see 'ow things are gettin' on without us. We could be back before dinner."

When Alice smiled, they left their things as they were and bolted out the door. They ran down to the storage yard where the Looking Glass was safely locked away in a stainless steel shed, and Hatter let her in with a flourish. "Togetha?" he asked, holding out a hand to her.

"Together," Alice agreed, lacing her fingers through his. And then they jumped forward through the glass.

One blur of white and green and blue and violet later, Alice was being helped up from the floor in a room of the Royal Palace. She returned Hatter's smile and then breathed it all in - Wonderland air was so different from home. It was tangible like a silk cloth, tasted like the sky before a lightning storm, and smelled like earthy perfumes - amber and spice and metal. She could feel the buzz around her, the constant hum of possibility. Of _impossibility_.

Yes, she'd missed this.


	15. Occupation

AN: For NotMarge, who reminded me I'd forgotten to post today's chapter. Sorry, running into hour 40 awake so I'm a little forgetful.

* * *

**Occupation**

It took Hatter all of a week to get a job in her world. Alice knew she shouldn't have been surprised, but when he showed up to pick her up for dinner and announced that he was starting at a bakery down the block from his flat, Alice couldn't help but be stunned. In this economy most people with Ph.D.s couldn't find work, and yet Hatter, from another world entirely and with no resumé or credentials to his name, had charmed his way into employment in a matter of days.

By the end of the first shift it was clear Hatter was completely in love with his job. He was enraptured with serving people and making things for them. Alice had stopped by on her way to the dojo and he'd shown her around the little family bakery, proudly showing her all of the sweets he'd learned to make that day. When he arrived for dinner with Alice and her mum that night, he produced a box of absolutely delicious cream cakes he'd made all on his own.

Still, somehow baking just didn't seem like a proper fit for Hatter. He worked and saved and learned anything anyone would teach him, but Alice could tell his eyes had started to wander after the first few months.

Then one day, completely by chance, he stumbled across the shop. It was a vacant shop, formerly some fancy delicatessen that had gone belly-up in the rough economy. Hatter - with help from Alice and his friends at the bakery - learned how to take out a business loan and within a month, Hatter's Tea Shoppe was open for business.

The whole thing started out small. Hatter brewed all the teas himself and he served cream cakes and sweets he bought from his former employer. There was a steady trickle of customers that wandered in for a cup of tea on their way to and from work. For a while Alice was afraid that business wouldn't keep up enough to keep the bills paid, but Hatter was eternally optimistic.

Then word of mouth started getting around and the crowds got bigger. People told their friends about the "delicious little tea shop" and assured them that even if they didn't like tea, the owner was a genius and could make something that would convert them. College students stopped by in between classes, businessmen dropped in on their lunch breaks. Even owners of nearby businesses would come by first thing in the morning for a drink before opening their own shops.

Hatter turned out to be the epitome of a salesman. He was persistent and confident without being overbearing, and every person who entered his shop left satisfied. People talked and drank, and Hatter's Tea Shoppe flourished.

And in the end, Alice wasn't surprised in the least.


	16. Pizza

**Pizza**

That first day together, they actually did "do pizza." After getting through the process of being grilled by Alice's mother about their overly-friendly greeting, they escaped the flat and back out into the midday rush of Queens. Hatter took her hand immediately so they didn't get separated in the crowd, and while she led the way down the block he couldn't stop looking at everything.

"So noisy 'ere," he said, flinching as two angry drivers laid on their car horns. "So many people e'erywhere."

Alice thought back to the abandoned streets and buildings of Wonderland and couldn't imagine what a shock this all must be for him. "Was it ever this busy there?" she asked, deliberately avoiding the name.

"Only in patches, ne'er like this," he said. They got jostled by a group of flustered looking business people and he clung tighter to her hand. "I mean, we were usually right packed at the Tea Shoppe, but if I wanted a breather I could always just slip ou'side."

As they wound their way through people toward the pizzeria on the next street over, Alice looked around at New York and tried to see it through Hatter's eyes. She compared all of the ways that it was different from Wonderland, from the population to the sights and smells and noise. Anxious, she wondered if he wouldn't like it. What if he decided to go back? What if he left?

"Alice, love, you're breakin' me fingers," he said, squeezing her hand pointedly.

"Oh, sorry," she said and immediately loosened her grip. She left Hatter to his observations until they reached the little favourite pizzeria, _Luigi's_. It was only marginally full since it was not quite lunch time yet and they got a booth near the corner windows. Alice placed their order with the spotty teen waiter but Hatter couldn't seem to stop watching the world passing outside.

"I can't believe you're here," Alice said honestly. "I thought-"

"Shouldn'a let you leave," he admitted, finally breaking his focus away from the rush of people and back to her. His gaze was deep and intense, and he reached across the tabletop for her hand. "Wasn' thinkin' right. Too many Oysters in the room, got me head spinnin' round worse 'an a batch of wild mushrooms. 'M sorry."

"Are you-?" Alice hesitated, afraid of the answer. "Are you staying?"

"For as long as you'll 'ave me," he answered sincerely and Alice felt her heart swell.

"Even though my world's so different?" she pressed because she had to know. "Won't you get homesick?"

"It's an adventure, I figure," he said with a shrug. "Dunno 'bout you but I'm not quite 'ventured out for one life. 'Sides, I was ready for a new world, 'member? And that was 'fore I had you to keep my comp'ny."

At that moment the waiter returned with their sodas and a large pepperoni pizza. Hatter's eyes widened in shock at the sight of it. "Tha's a pizza?"

The waiter gave them a curious look and Alice hastily added, "He's foreign, they don't really have pizza where he's from." Still perplexed, the waiter nodded and left. Alice turned her attention back to Hatter, who was turning the pizza around and examining it from every angle curiously. Grinning, she pulled out a wedge and took a bite.

Hatter followed her lead and when he bit down his eyes got impossibly wider. "Tha's brilliant," he mumbled through a mouthful. Alice was laughing as Hatter devoured that first slice like he was afraid it was going to be stolen from him and then - after he gave her a questioning look and she nodded - he launched into a second one.

When he'd finished the second slice, he finally slowed down enough to take a sip of the Coke she'd ordered for him and he licked his lips eagerly. "If all the food in your world is this good, I'm in trouble," he said in amusement, plucking a piece of pepperoni from one of the other slices. "Gonna 'ave to start runnin' more."

"More than we did in - there?" she asked with a laugh.

"Aye, more than that," he agreed and then started on a third slice with gusto.

Alice took a bite of her pizza and smiled. She couldn't wait to introduce him to cheeseburgers.


	17. Queen

AN: Hey guys, sorry I've missed the last few days. Lots of drama kept me busy and away from the computer for a while.

* * *

**Queen**

"Will you be my queen, Alice?"

Alice stared up at Jack in shock, trying to take in everything that this moment implied. Jack still loved her, even though he was a completely different person than the one she had chased through a Looking Glass. He wanted her to stay with him, to help him rebuild the world that she had helped to liberate. He was offering her a chance at something she could never have in the real world - the chance to lead and rule an entire world. He wanted to marry her, to spend the rest of his life with her.

Or did he? Perhaps his proposal wasn't motivated by love at all. Maybe he simply wanted her to rule beside him because she was Alice-of-Legend now. Maybe he thought that having her at his side, leading and reshaping their world, would lend some credibility to his fresh, tentative new rule.

Could she ever trust and believe that his affection was real and not a political ploy, like so many of his previous actions had been?

Not that it mattered, because she had already made up her mind. "No, Jack," she said as gently as she could. Even still she watched his shoulders fall in defeat.

"I've changed," she admitted, and wasn't that an under-exaggeration? The past three days felt like a lifetime, like everything in her life had been broken apart into tiny puzzle pieces and put back together in a completely different pattern. "I'm not the same girl you knew. I want something else."

There was the truth in its simplest form. As Jack led her to the Looking Glass to insert the ring he had just offered her for a second time, she reevaluated herself and what she wanted from life. And as charming and perfect as Jack Chase had seemed when she had raced after his kidnappers into this world, he wasn't what she wanted anymore. She didn't want cool collection and regal gentlemanly manners. She didn't want blonde hair and blue eyes. She didn't want lofty airs and graces. She wanted -

"Hatter!"


	18. Rings

AN: Warning, there be cuteness ahead.

* * *

**Rings**

When Hatter started acting a bit secretive, Alice didn't suspect anything. He was an eccentric man, prone to fits of fancy, and it wasn't the first time he'd gotten oddly private.

The first time it was the anniversary of his mother's death and he'd been moping alone. After three days he'd eventually caved and told her everything, hiding his sniffles as they curled together on the sofa.

The second time he'd locked himself away in his flat - he'd refused to let her come over for days, instead holding their daily luncheons or movie nights at her mother's place. In the end he brought her around and showed her the meticulously reorganised flat that was a perfect union of his style and hers. Then he presented her with a key to the flat. (She had moved in later that same week.)

So when Hatter started shutting himself away in the basement beneath his tea shoppe, she tried not to think anything of it. Eventually he would come out of it, tell her everything and why he'd been at it alone, and things would go back to normal. Besides, his distraction gave her time to catch up on the schoolwork she'd let fall by the wayside the previous week when he'd been overly attentive.

It wasn't until one week turned into three that she started getting a bit suspicious. She was fully prepared to confront him that night and get some answers from him. After her daily judo classes, she let herself into the flat, full of fire and righteous indignation and a fair bit of leftover endorphins. She had just opened her mouth to shout for him when she froze.

Sitting on the otherwise empty dining table was a pair of exquisite teacups. They looked ancient and fragile, and she picked one of them up carefully. The white porcelain was covered in tiny, elaborate swirls and it took her a moment to realise that each miniature whorl was a picture. Hearts and diamonds and clubs and spades, glass bottles with crystal stoppers and a book with open pages covered in microscopic print. A scarab and a flamingo and a horse. A knight and bishop and pawn, all wreathed in vines. A white rabbit and a gilded throne with a heart atop.

And there, in amongst it all, was a blue dress right beside a weathered hat.

"Hatter?" Alice called into the flat curiously. She lifted her head and was surprised to find him standing in the doorway from the bedroom, watching her tentatively. "What are these?"

"Teacups," he said and managed a cheeky grin. "Thought that was obvious." Alice smiled indulgently. Hatter licked his lips and suddenly looked nervous again, a rare enough thing that it made Alice worried.

She set down the cup by its match and took a step toward him. "Hatter, are you okay?"

"Hearts beatin' like a stampedin' Bandersnatch, a'tually," he admitted with a breathy laugh and patted his chest. "But I'm a'right." He cleared his throat and walked over to the table, looking down at the set of teacups. "These was me parents cups, 'riginally," he admitted and touched the handle of one fondly. "One o' the few things o' theirs I still got. See, in Wonde'land we've got this tradition. When two people's in love, when they wanna spend the rest o' their lives togetha, the bloke gets 'em a trinket. Somethin' that comes in a pair, somethin' that is important to them, somethin' that goes togetha. Just like them."

Alice could feel her heart racing, lodged in her throat and stopping her from speaking. Hatter glanced up at her and offered her a weak, twitchy smile. "Da gave these to my mum when they 'greed to spend the rest o' their lives togetha," he said, and distantly she couldn't help but notice his accent was thicker when he was nervous. "Had a diff'rent story on 'em before. Their story. Tha's what I've been doin' all this time. Repainted 'em. For us."

Alice looked again at the infinitesimal little details that made up each interconnected image and her mind swam. Hatter had done it himself? No wonders it had taken him so long to do such intricate work. In fact it should've taken him longer.

"Been sneakin' off to Wonde'land," he admitted sheepishly, as if he could read her mind. "Coupa days there's only hours 'ere. Took me months to finish 'em." He met her eyes again and this time his smile was softer, more genuine. "'Cause I fin'lly found a story worth tellin'. You an' me."

"Hatter," Alice breathed out, one her hands lifting to cover her mouth as she realised the implications of the gesture. It was something Wonderlanders did when they loved someone, when they wanted to spend their lives together. He was -

"But I don' wanna do jus' this," he hurried on, walking around the table to stand in front of her. "See, this is a Wonde'land thing, but we're not jus' about Wonde'land. Togetha, we's both worlds. Which is why - " Hatter rummaged in his pocket and then held out his open palm. Sitting there was a little silver band, set with a blue square stone - the exact colour of an old, very wet dress. "I got this too," he finished. "Alice, I wanna spend the rest me life with-"

"Yes," Alice interrupted.

Comprehension dawned slowly across Hatter's face but as it did it was like the sun came up behind his dark brown eyes. "Yeah?" he asked, his voice quaking ever so slightly.

"Yes," she repeated. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you too."

Hatter broke out into the single most beautiful smile she'd ever seen and all at once swept her into his arms. He spun her in a circle so quickly that when he set her on her feet again she stumbled, but as always his arms were there to stop her from falling. Still beaming, he took her hand and made to put the ring on her.

"Wrong hand," she whispered with a giggle.

"There's a proper 'and?" he asked in amusement, but he obligingly dropped her right hand and picked up the left. "You Oysters and your silly traditions." And then he slid the silver and blue band into place on her finger, where it fit more perfectly than any other piece of jewelry she'd worn in her life.

Looking down at her through his curling fringe, Hatter grinned and nodded toward the matching teacups. "Would you like a cuppa tea, Mrs. Hatter?"


	19. Stars

**Stars**

To celebrate the one year anniversary of their relationship - and Hatter's first year in her world - Alice and Hatter decided to take a holiday weekend out of the city. They booked a small rental cottage near the coast and driven out there to spend a few days alone. After spending most of the first afternoon inside enjoying the enormous king sized bed, Alice had been tired and fell asleep in the early evening.

It was dark out when she woke up to find the other side of the bed empty. A breeze swept in through the open patio doors and she could just faintly make out a silhouette in the darkness. Alice climbed out of bed and padded softly out onto the little wooden patio. Hatter was leaning against the railing in his pyjamas, his head tilted back as he peered up at the night sky.

"Sorry, love, did I wake ya?" he asked quietly without moving.

"No, just couldn't sleep," she admitted, crossing over to lean against the rail next to him. "What're you doing?"

"Lookin' at the stars," he said and gestured vaguely upward. "There diff'rent 'ere. Further 'way, colder. They don't sing to you here."

Alice tipped her head back and squinted up. The sky stretched out like navy velvet above them and without the light pollution of the city she could see millions of pinpricks stars gleaming against the backdrop. "I haven't looked at the stars in years," she said softly. "I used to lay out in the backyard with my dad and look at them. He would point out all the constellations to me. I used to know them all, but then after he left - well, we moved into the city and I just stopped looking."

Hatter didn't say anything, but his hand slid over to cover hers on the rail. "I never really looked at them in Wonderland," she said. "Are they really that different there?"

"Bigger," Hatter said and his grin was a flash of white in the darkness like a shooting star streaking through the sky. "White and blue and red and green. We got diff'rent constellations too. Least I think. I can't find any of 'em here. The Kettle was always easiest, tip of the spout was the Western Point star. Good for findin' your way in the dark."

"We have the North Star," Alice said and pointed upward at the large white dot.

"Tha's handy," Hatter said with a nod. "Then to the south there was the Lion and the Unicorn. Always fightin', them. And the Griffin. The Lory and the Eaglet. Then there's ones named for the queens, Red and White. And we 'ave an Alice."

"There's an Alice constellation?" she asked in surprise.

"Over the east horizon, can on'y see it in the deepest part o' night 'cause then the sun starts comin' up and it disappears," Hatter explained. "The Lady Alice. Me mum taught me that one. We climbed all t'way up to the top o' the city one night just so's she could show me. Impor'ant one to our family, it was. After all, me grandad met Alice-of-Legend, or so mum said." He chuckled indulgently the way he always did when talking about his mother's stories, and then glanced at Alice. "You wanna teach me some o' yours?"

Alice disappeared into the cabin quickly and then returned with the woolen blanket that had been folded at the foot of the bed. She spread it on the patio and then laid down, patting the spot beside her. Hatter grinned as he stretched out next to her with his hands folded beneath his head. "Alright," Alice started, looking up at the sky and getting her bearings. "See those three there? That's Orion's belt..."


	20. Tomorrow

**Tomorrow**

Hatter paced an anxious line through the overly-bright waiting room, his boots squeaking slightly on the linoleum tiles every time he about-faced. He could feel the curious looks from the other occupants of the room but right now he couldn't care less what they thought of him. All he cared about was somewhere down that winding labyrinth of halls.

Dragging a hand through his too-flat hair, Hatter sighed and threw himself back into his ritualistic pacing. It would be better if there was something he could do. In Wonderland, every time Alice had been in trouble he'd been able to do something about it. He could charge in and save the day - or at least give it his best go. This sitting around and waiting and being completely helpless was _maddening_.

As if his day hadn't been taxing enough as it were, packing up his things and taking a leap of faith through a Looking Glass into this mad, mad world. Then of course he shows up to find Alice sprawled on the concrete with a trickle of blood coming out of her scalp and the bottom fell out of his stomach. It was only lucky chance that a copper happened to be passing by the warehouse when he ran out looking for help.

Which all led to him marching a firm line in the brilliantly lit room among all of the Oysters who were giving off waves of Worry and Concern and Fear and Sadness. It was doing nothing good for his own nerves, that was for sure.

"Excuse me." Hatter stopped and turned to the voice to find himself facing a weary-looking woman with familiar cheekbones and dark hair. "Are you the man who found my daughter?"

"She alright?" Hatter asked immediately.

"She'll be fine," the woman responded with a smile as a cloud of Gratitude floated in the air around her. "She just fell back asleep but they said she'll be released first thing in the morning." She wrung her hands together and then sighed. "I just wanted to thank you for what you did. Alice is my world. If you hadn't been there - " She paused and visibly shuddered. "I don't even want to think about it. So, thank you...?"

"David," Hatter supplied to the unasked question, dragging up the old Oyster name he hadn't been called since his mother had passed when he was a child. An Oyster name for a newly Oyster man.

"Carol," she replied and held out her hand, which Hatter squeezed gently. "Thank you again, David."

She looked like she was going to leave, so Hatter hastily cleared his throat. "Carol, if you don' mind, could I perhaps see Alice?" he asked. When she looked suspicious, he hurried on, "I just - I wanna make sure she's alright. See it for meself, you know?"

Something in his hopeful expression must have worked because Carol's face softened into another sweet smile. "Come by the flat tomorrow afternoon," she said. "I'm sure Alice will want to thank you herself." She borrowed a paper and pen from the front desk to write down the address and then passed it off to Hatter.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, folding the paper and tucking it into the pocket of his trousers.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "Thank you again, David." And then Carol Hamilton walked back down the hall she'd come from, presumably to return to Alice's bedside.

Hatter turned and headed out of the front doors of the hospital into the cool night air. He would go back to the flat that Jack Heart had given him and wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow. Just one more day and he could see Alice again. Talk to her, see if she still wanted him, see if she even remembered him (a possible side-effect Jack had warned him about with a grim expression). One more day.

Tomorrow he would know.


	21. Unsure

AN: This is a response to a prompt from Stars May Fall, in which Hatter faces Carol alone. The next few chapters are all responses to prompts you guys have submitted. Can you believe we're almost finished? Only five more letters! If you want me to keep writing, keep submitting prompts, otherwise I'm going to take a break from this to continue working on Down the Rabbithole - which is turning out truly epic if I do say so meself.

* * *

**Unsure**

It took a lot to make David Hatter nervous. He had grown up on the streets, served in a resistance, faced down Mad March and the Queen of Hearts. Hell, he'd punched a Jabberwock in the face. After everything that he had done in his life, it didn't seem like there would be anything that had the ability to make him anxious. He certainly thought there wouldn't be.

Then Carol Hamilton invited him to a dinner - _alone_.

It wasn't so much that he was afraid of Alice's mum. She just had a great talent for making him _uneasy_. He'd never been great with mothers in the first place. He wasn't the sort of bloke most of his lady friends would take home to meet their parents, and for good reason. He might be charming but most mums frowned upon the tea smuggler. The few times he'd met a mum, it hadn't ended well.

The whole situation was all the more frightening because she was _Alice's_ mum. His feisty, perfect Alice. The Alice that gave his life purpose again when he lost everything and the Alice that he would do anything for.

Even face a dinner alone with her mum.

Hatter took his hat off and smoothed his hair down one last time. After a quick check that his appearance was as good as it would get - and he looked rather dashing, if he said so himself. These Oyster clothes might not be his style but he had managed to put together an outfit that suited both the Oyster styles and his own. Clearing his throat, Hatter knocked and even the sound was tentative.

The door slid open to reveal Carol Hamilton in one of her favourite blue floral dresses. She smiled warmly. "David, come in," she said and stepped aside to let him. He slipped into the flat and reflexively smirked when he felt the wave of Amusement coming off Carol. She thought his nerves were funny. It was time to pull out the Hatter charm.

From inside his jacket he pulled out a small bouquet of brightly coloured wildflowers. "For you, ma'am," he said and presented them to her with a grin.

"Oh David, you didn't have to," she said but she took the flowers and sniffed them, her eyes sparkling. "They're lovely. Let me get these in some water and then I'm nearly finished in the kitchen. Come join me."

Hatter followed her down into the kitchen and he helped to set two places at the dining table while she put the wildflowers into a vase. She laid out a delicious smelling chicken dish and a salad, and then they sat down opposite each other at the table. "So David, Alice tells me you've gotten a job," she started conversationally.

"At a bakery," he agreed, rubbing his sweating palms against his trousers before picking up the silverware. "Bit hectic but I like it. Learnin' lots 'bout bakin'."

"That's nice," Carol said with a smile. She poured a bit of a vinaigrette dressing onto her salad and then looked across the table to meet Hatter's gaze. "David, relax," she said and laughed. "You're not in trouble."

Hatter let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry," he said and felt his cheeks warming. "In my 'sperience, it's not good when a girl's mum calls you 'round for a chat."

"I just want to get to know you a little," Carol said, although she'd raised her eyebrow at his comment. "Since you've been spending so much time with Alice lately."

"'Cause you don't trust me so far's you can throw me," Hatter finished for her. There was no point pretending; snogging Alice on their supposed first meeting hadn't made the best of impressions and the badly cobbled story they'd supplied afterward hadn't ever stuck with Carol.

"I didn't say that," Carol said. Hatter arched an eyebrow sceptically. "I know you're lying to me about how you and Alice met," she went on, "but I never said I don't trust you."

Hatter frowned thoughtfully. "I don' follow."

"Look, David, I know Alice better than anyone in this world," Carol said, setting down her silverware and squaring off with him. "And it doesn't take a genius to see the change in her since she started spending time with you. She's happier than I've seen her in a very long time. You're good for her."

"I think she's the one who's good for me," Hatter said honestly. "Makes me a be'er man, she does."

Carol smiled briefly and then her expression got more serious. "You know enough about Alice to know that she's had a rough time of things," she said.

"Her da leavin, you mean?" Hatter asked and the pieces came together. "You wanna make sure I'm not gonna rabbit on 'er too."

"Alice has grown rather fond of you," Carol said, nodding. "You're the first person she's really opened up to since her father left us. If things don't end well between you..."

Hatter nodded in understanding. "Mrs. 'amilton, can I be honest with ya?" he asked. Carol gestured for him to continue. "I norm'ly wouldn't be so forward, but in this situation I figure it's best. Truth is, I love Alice. I know it seems fast, but we've been through more'n you know. I love 'er and I wanna spend my life with 'er, if she'll 'ave me. If I 'ave any say in it, I'm not goin' anywhere and you got my word on that."

Carol seemed to appraise him for a long minute, her eyes scrutinising him like she could see through him. Hatter struggled not to fidget under her intense gaze. Finally Carol smiled and picked up her fork. "That's all I wanted to know," she said. "Unless you'd like to tell me where you _really_ met my daughter...?"

"Think that might be a story for anoth'a night," he answered cheekily and Carol laughed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told ya. 'Sides, I reckon Alice might wanna be 'ere for that one."

"Fair enough," Carol said and took a sip of her wine. "So, David, how are you enjoying being in New York so far?"


	22. Version

AN: Also a response to a prompt from Stars May Fall (looked through them all and it turns out all but one are by you, lol).

In which Alice and Hatter tell their story to their children.

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**Version **

"Da, da, da..."

"Lorina, Lorina, Lorina," Hatter retorted playfully as the little dark-haired girl bounced on the sofa beside him.

"Please," she begged, giving him her best puppy-eyed pout. Alice chuckled; little Lorina Hatter had inherited her father's ability to charm anyone, and no one was more wound around her fingers than her own da.

Hatter gave a dramatic, long-suffering sigh. "Alright, alright, _one_ story," he agreed. "Grab a book and then into bed with ya." Lorina cheered as she hopped down off the sofa and sprinted down the hall. "The thin's I do for that girl," he said, shaking his head.

"It's because you're whipped," Alice said cheekily.

"Oi!" Hatter said. He stood and crossed to the armchair where Alice was sitting and leaned down over her. "I'd be 'ffended if it weren't so true," he finished and grinned. "You an' 'er both. An' don't you know it."

"Learned from the best," she said and Hatter smirked as he bent to kiss her.

"Da! Momma! I got one!" Lorina shouted down the hallway. "C'mon!"

Hatter stood and offered a hand to Alice, and then they made their way down the hall to their daughter's bedroom. Alice sat down in the rocking chair - one of Hatter's better second-hand finds - while Hatter settled down on the bed with Lorina curled in his lap. When she handed him the book he wrinkled his nose.

"Really, Lori?" he asked. "Again?" He showed the cover to Alice and she couldn't stop the burst of laughter that escaped her. It was her ancient and weather-worn copy of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_.

"Da," Lorina whined. "Please? It's got an Alice like momma, and Hatters, like us."

Hatter looked at the little girl appraisingly and then up at Alice. "How old is this little Bandersnatch again?"

"Da, I'm four!" Lorina said, holding up her fingers pointedly.

"Four? You know what, love, I think you're old enough," he said thoughtfully. "You wanna hear a diff'rent story? The real story of Alice and her Hatter, and _their_ adventure in Wonderland?"

"The real one?" Lorina asked, her eyes wide in awe. "Like for reals, not a book?"

"Like for reals," Hatter agreed and Alice stifled her laughter.

"I wanna hear," Lorina said. "I'm a big girl."

"What you think, Alice?" he asked, glancing across the room at her. "She big enough?"

"I'm a big girl!" Lorina repeated insistently.

"I think she can handle it," Alice said with a nod. "She's brave enough for such a big girl story."

Lorina cheered again and then snuggled herself into her father's side as Hatter cleared his throat. He tipped his hat back and there was a grin on his face as he started. "Once upon a time, there was a pretty girl in a very wet dress..."

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AN: Just a random extra note, if anyone is curious how I chose their daughter's name. Lorina is the name of the original Alice Liddel's sister, inspiration for the character The Lory. Also in my canon for Down the Rabbithole, Lorina is Hatter's mother's name.


	23. Weakness

AN: This one is a response to a request from the ever-faithful NotMarge, about an argument between Alice and Hatter, and showing the way she's grown because of their relationship. Hope it satisfies!

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**Weakness**

Alice had always been a runner. She wished she could blame her father, that it was his disappearance that had triggered her compulsive need to put her problems behind her and never look back, but she couldn't. The truth was she'd done it as long as she could remember. Even as a little child, when something came up that she didn't want to face, she turned tail and ran as far away as she could. The day her beloved cat Dinah died, she'd raced away from the bad news and hid where it hopefully couldn't catch up with her.

Of course, the problem with that is they always did catch up, eventually.

As wrong as she knew it was, she couldn't stop herself from always doing it. She did it when she fought with her friends, when her mother and her had it out, whenever a relationship got rocky. She did it when Jack Chase unexpectedly asked her to marry him. It didn't matter the situation or the severity. Things got rough and she would run.

Alice's hand closed around the door handle determinedly as the angry words continued to echo in the air around her. She couldn't even remember what they were fighting about - it had started in one place and then seemed to take on a life of its own, wandering everywhere and dragging every little thing into the fray like a tornado sucking up scattered debris from everything it passed over.

"Leavin' again?" Hatter asked waspishly from behind her and she froze in the door frame. He was mad, but most of all he sounded hurt. Defeated.

There was a fire itching under her skin, begging her to go, to move. She wanted nothing more than to sprint for as long as her legs would carry her, until her muscles screamed and her lungs burned and the pain and frustration of fighting with Hatter was miles behind her where she could pretend it hadn't happened.

No, that wasn't true. There was one thing she wanted more than that.

Taking a shaky breath, Alice stepped backward into the flat and closed the door. When she turned around Hatter was watching her, his surprise evident in his expression. "No, I'm not leaving," she said. "Not this time. Not again."

The faintest smile of relief flickered across Hatter's face and Alice seized ahold of the olive branch. She crumpled into his arms and sobbed against his chest, and if she felt a tear or two of his against the back of her neck, she didn't say anything. Because this was worth it. This was worth staying for. _He_ was worth staying for.

Alice had always been a runner, but not anymore.


	24. X-Rays

**X-Rays**

Alice threw out a hasty apology to the person she bumped into as she dashed through the front doors of the hospital. She was still dressed in her gi, having canceled her class and come straight from the dojo as soon as she'd gotten the call. When she skidded to a stop in front of the emergency room desk, the secretary gave her a startled look.

"David Hatter," Alice said, panting for breath from her lengthy run.

"One moment," the secretary said and the keys on the computer clicked loudly as she typed in the name. "Ah, yes, bed 11, right around the corner there."

"Thank you," Alice said and the woman let her through the doors into the emergency room proper. Alice walked around the corner briskly and scanned the row of beds between the high curtains until they finally landed on a familiar face. "Hatter!"

Hatter glanced up at her, his face pale and his right arm cradled against his chest. "Alice," he said and he smiled tightly.

Alice walked to his bedside and took in his pained expression. "What happened?"

"I dunno," he said, shifting his right arm slightly and then wincing. "Some bloke was causin' trouble at the shop, tried to nick a lady's purse. I swung at him but I hit the wall. Then me hand just - " He gestured lamely at the swollen limb. "It _kills_, Alice."

"That hand's not going to work for a while," a young, fresh-faced doctor said as he slipped into the curtained area. He was carrying a sheet of dark blue paper and he pinned it up on the light box mounted on the wall. It showed a crisp blue and white image of Hatter's right hand. "You did a real number on yourself, Mr. Hatter. See this dark line here? And here? Cracked clean through. Got yourself a broken wrist there."

"Tha's not s'ppose to 'appen," Hatter muttered, glaring at his hand like it had betrayed him.

The doctor chuckled. "It does when you punch a brick wall," he said. "If you'll just wait here, I'll grab a nurse and we'll get that wrist set in a cast. You sure you don't want any pain meds?"

"No," Hatter said firmly. The doctor shrugged, nodded briefly to Alice, and then disappeared into the chaos of rushing doctors and nurses and patients again. "Don' trust 'em," Hatter said to answer Alice's silent question. "Dunno how they'll 'ffect me, being a Wonderlander an' all." Alice nodded in comprehension. "Me hand though, I don' understand.

"Hatter, I don't think your sledgehammer works here," Alice said. Hatter looked up at her in surprise like the idea had never occurred to him. "Maybe - maybe it's the sort of thing that only works in Wonderland. Like how my Glow went away when I came back."

"Me sledgehammer's gone?" he asked, wide-eyed.

"I would assume so, since your wrist is broken," she said.

"Blimey." Hatter examined his wrist, which was starting to turn shades of black and blue. "I've 'ad it so long, I dunno - never really figured on livin' without it."

"You'll manage," Alice said, brushing her fingers through his fringe affectionately. "If you'd like, I can start giving you lessons. Teach you how to defend yourself without it."

"Yeah?" Hatter asked and he seemed to perk up at the idea. "You teach me that thin' where you flip the guy ova your shoulder?"

Alice laughed at his eagerness. "Sure," she agreed. "But not until you're healed, okay?"

Alice waited by his side as the doctor set his wrist and they wrapped it in the cast. Hatter insisted on the violet wrap, and then the doctor instructed them both on how to take care of his cast and gave them a prescription for pain medication. With his arm in a sling, Hatter followed Alice out of the hospital. "I'm gonna be bloody useless 'til this thin's fixed," he grumbled.

"That's alright," Alice said and he glanced at her curiously. "It just means it's my turn to make sure you're taken care of."

Hatter smiled fondly and threaded his good hand with hers. Alice returned the smile and then flagged down a taxi. "C'mon, Hatter, let's get you home."


	25. Young

AN: This one was also a request from Stars May Fall. Just one more short after today, guys!

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**Young**

Alice was folding clothes into a suitcase, preparing to officially move into Hatter's flat, when the aforementioned boyfriend made a funny noise from behind her. Curious, Alice looked back at where he was piling her books into a cardboard box. "What was that?"

Hatter glanced up at her and grinned. "I can' believe you kept it," he said. Frowning, Alice glanced down at the book in his hands; it was her battered copy of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland._

"What about it?" she asked in confusion.

Hatter's smile faltered. "You don' remember?" he asked and then shook his head. "Nah, course you wouldn't. You were a wee thing."

Alice set down the jeans she'd been folding and turned to properly face him. "What are you talking about? My dad bought that book for me."

"Did not," Hatter said petulantly. "You were a little thing, couldn'a been more 'an six or seven, I reckon. Playin' by youself at the park."

And a memory drifted up through the cracks in Alice's mind, pulled forward from that deepest recess where dreams and fantasies lived...

_Alice was bored. She kicked at the dirt in the sandbox and stared balefully down the street toward her house. Her mother was at work and her father was buried deep in grading papers for one of his classes. He promised that when he was finished they'd go feed chickpeas to the ducks, but he sure was taking an awful long time of it, and he didn't like her in the house bothering him while he was doing it. She's gone to the park but so far it wasn't turning out to be any more fun than sitting alone in her room._

_She headed for the playscape but a much older kid stepped in front of her. "Whatcho think your doin?" he asked, chewing loudly at a piece of bright pink bubblegum. "Get outta here. No one wants to play with you." He shoved her shoulder and Alice stumbled back into the wood chips. Eyes watering, Alice picked herself up and ran for home._

_Halfway there, she quite suddenly collided with something that sent her sprawling on the pavement. "Oi, easy there," the thing she'd hit said. When she looked up she found herself staring at a man, younger than her daddy with droopy brown hair beneath a pale violet hat. He was smiling, but when he saw her face it slipped away._

_"Sorry," she muttered, rubbing at her watery eyes._

_"Don' worry 'bout it, I get knocked 'bout all the time," he said with a laugh. He crouched down in front of her. Alice noticed his eyes, dark and soft and warm. "You okay, love?"_

_"They were mean to me," she said and gestured vaguely back at the park._

_The man followed her gaze and scowled. "Bloody Jabbers," he said and shook his head. "Pickin' on a pretty li'l thing like you. You know what you oughta do? Learn'a fight back. That'll teach 'em." He sighed and then looked down at her again. "Here, lemme 'elp you up. What's your name, love?"_

_"Alice," she responded as he helped her to her feet. He stayed crouched in front of her so they were eye-level._

_The man chuckled, his eyes sparking in amusement. "You don' say," he said. "You know what, Alice, I think I got som'mat that'll make you feel better. Was gonna take it 'ome with me, but I think you need it more." He reached into the backpack he was wearing and pulled out a book, holding it out to her._

_Alice took it and read the title, printed above a photo of a little blonde girl and a woman with hearts on her dress - _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland._ "Alice?" she asked and looked up eagerly._

_"Aye, right feisty thing she was too," he said. "Not much olda 'an you."_

_"I can keep it?" she asked in awe._

_"Sure," he said and tapped her chin playfully. Then his gaze flicked passed her and his smile flickered. "Alright, love, great chattin' to ya but I gotta go. I gotta Rabbit to follow." And with a quick ruffle of her hair, he stood and took off running down the street while Alice hugged her new book to her chest..._

"Wait, that was real?" Alice asked in shock, looking up to meet Hatter's gaze. "I always thought I dreamed that."

"You dream 'bout me?" Hatter asked with a roguish grin. When Alice continued to stare at him insistently he chuckled. "Aye, it 'appened. Was tailing the Rabbit for the Resistance; knew he was interested in somethin' for the Queen and was tryin'a figure out what. Turns out it was your da, 'though I didn' know that 'cause I got sidetracked chattin' to a little girl."

"So you knew me, all this time?" she asked. "When we met - why didn't you say anything?"

"Didn' realise you was the same Alice a'first, did I? All grown up like," he said with a shrug. "Wasn' 'til I saw your da I figured it out, and then, well..." He trailed off with a hopeless wave of his hand. "You 'ad other thin's on your mind. An' you neva' said anythin' either, I thought you knew an' just weren't sayin'."

"But you - you looked just the same," Alice said, frowning. Hatter cocked an eyebrow at her as he walked around to join her beside the bed. "Your hair was longer."

Hatter chuckled as he carded a hand through his hair. "Bit, yeah," he agreed. "Was in me thirties a' the time, I think. Weird time, wore a purple hat then, had a thin' for those funny gloves withou' fingers."

"I can't believe that was really you," Alice said. "Did you come to my world a lot then?"

"Jus' the one time," he said. "Afta that they started sendin' someone else. Said I spent too much time lookin' for treasures 'stead of followin' Rabbit like I was s'pose to. Couldn' right blame 'em, really. I did bring me back a nice bag of thin's, minus the funny book I gave to a wee girl."

"Your only time in my world, and you ran into me," she said with an awkward laugh. "What a coincidence."

Hatter snorted. "Run into a girl once, then for'y years later she shows up in me shop," he said, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear. "Tha's not coincidence. Where I'm from, love, we call that fate."


	26. Zodiac

AN: Something cute and fluffy to end the series. Thanks to you guys for welcoming me to the fandom and I look forward to seeing more of you when I start posting "Down the Rabbithole" in two short weeks.

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**Zodiac**

Alice always read the weekly horoscopes. It was something her father had started when she was a kid, reading them to her from the paper and trying to convince her they were real. She had never believed in them, but she liked to pretend sometimes. Liked to imagine that there was something magical that controlled her fates and made things happen. Silly as it was, she always read the horoscopes from the sunday paper. It was a light, easy tradition.

"Wha's a sag-it-tar-us?"

Explaining it to Hatter, on the other hand, was not quite so easy.

"Sagittarius," she corrected him, glancing up from the newspaper open on the kitchen table in front of her. "It's a zodiac sign."

Hatter sat down opposite her and blew on his cup of tea. "What's that?"

"It's based on the stars," Alice said. "And on when you were born. There's a constellation for certain times when you were born, and the way those stars line up can sort of tell things about your future. Like see, because I was born in early December, that makes me a Sagittarius. So this paper says that - " She flourished the paper and squinted down at the little block of text, "I could face a difficult discussion and that my world is due for a trying time, but that I should keep my patience and all will work out."

"Wait," Hatter said and his brow furrowed. "So you're sayin' these funny l'il star signs are s'pose to be able to predic' the future?" He laughed and shook his head, tracing a finger around the rim of his teacup. "An' you say Wonde'land makes no sense."

Alice sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's not real," she said. "It's just - it's for fun. It's just fun to think about sometimes." Hatter hummed but there was something teasing in the curve of his lips around the teacup.

"It is rath'a silly," he said and smiled. Then his hand snaked across the table to curl over hers. "So, love, wha's it say 'bout me?"

"I don't know," she said. "I mean, I don't exactly know when your birthday is, do I?"

"Well the papers Jack ga' me say it's," he pulled out his wallet and checked the ID card, "April first."

Alice laughed. "I think he meant that as a joke," she said. Hatter glanced at her curiously. "Never mind." Her eyes flicked down the row of horoscopes until she found the right one. "_Something strikes you as being very funny today, although your partner may not see it quite this way. Today's astral configuration could bring about a situation in which you just cannot help but burst out laughing_."

Hatter's eyes lit up and a smile was dancing across his lips. "Aye, I reckon those stars are on t' somethin'."


End file.
